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Li  brary 
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LIBRARY  HANDBOOK  No.  1 1 


SOME  PRINCIPLES 

OF 

BUSINESS-LIKE  CONDUCl 

IN 

LIBRARIES 


BY 
ARTHUR  E.  BOSTWICK 

SL  Lotda  Public  Library 


American  Hibrarp  jas(£fotiation 

78  E.  WASHINGTON  STREET.  CHICAGO 

1920 


LIBRARY  HANDBOOK  No.  11 


SOME  PRINCIPLES 

OF 

BUSINESS-LIKE  CONDUCT 

IN 

LIBRARIES 


BY 

ARTHUR  E.  BOSTWICK 

Si.  Louis  Public  Library 


n^. 


American  ICibrarp  ^fiidociatioii 

78  E.  WASHINGTON  STREET.  CHICAGO 

1920 


y\ 


FOREWORD 

This  pamphlet  is  an  endeavor  to  answer  the 
questions,  "What  is  a  business-like  way  of  doing 
things?"  "How  does  it  differ  from  an  unbusiness- 
like way?"    "Are  there  any  underlying  principles?" 

It  does  not  attempt  to  recommend  specific 
methods,  still  less  to  describe  them,  although  they 
may  occasionally  serve  as  illustrations.  To  specify 
and  describe  would  be  simply  to  duplicate  other  ac- 
cessible material.  The  author  believes  that  to  be 
business-like  is  as  worthy  an  aim  for  the  intellectual 
and  the  high-minded  as  to  be,  for  instance,  artistic 
or  literary ;  and  he  has  tried  here  to  emphasize  and 
illustrate  this  point  of  view. 


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CONTENTS 

Business-like  Conduct    5 

Some  Ways  of  Doing  Things 6 

Some  Personal  Qualities 14 

Some  Arrangements   22 

Some  Words  in  Conclusion 26 

Index 31 


BUSINESS-LIKE  CONDUCT 

What  constitutes  a  ''business-like"  way  of  doing 
things,  as  opposed  to  an  "unbusiness-like"  way?  Not 
system  alone ;  for  that  may  be  carried  to  an  extreme 
that  is  the  reverse  of  business-like.     Not  honesty 
alone;  for  the  scrupulously  honest  man  may  hope- 
lessly lack  business   sense.     Not  promptness,   not 
quickness  of  apprehension,  but  rather  such  a  com- 
bination of  all  these  things,  and  of  many  others, 
that  the  best  results  will  be  obtained  at  the  least 
expenditure  of  money,  time  and  energy.    The  busi- 
ness man  must  not  only  produce  or  distribute  good 
articles,  but  he  must  do  so  at  a  profit;  otherwise 
his  procedure   is   not   business-like.     A   man   who 
advertised  that  he  sold  all  goods  at  less  than  cost 
was  asked  how  he  managed  to  get  along  on  that 
basis.     "I   couldn't,"   he   replied,  ''if   I   didn't  have 
such  a  big  business."     The  size  of  a  business,  or 
the  quality  of  its  goods,  does  not  make  its  methods 
business-like,  if  it  is  not  making  money. 

The  public  library  is,  or  should  be,  a  business 
institution.  Those  who  do  not  like  to  admit  this 
do  not  realize  that  business,  conducted  in  a  "busi- 
ness-like" way,  is  the  most  honorable  of  occupa- 
tions and  the  most  useful  to  the  community.  To  say 
that  librarian.ship  is  a  business  is  to  pay  it  a  compli- 
ment. To  assert  that  a  librarian's  administration 
is  not  "business-like"  is  to  make  one  of  the  most 
serious   charges  that   could   be  brought   against   it. 


6  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

The  public  library  does  not  operate  for  a  money 
profit,  but  it  must  show  that  it  has  rendered  services 
to  the  community  that  are  well  worth  the  money 
that  the  community  has  put  into  it.  The  very  fact 
that  its  success  can  not  be  measured  financially,  like 
that  of  a  commercial  concern,  is  all  the  more  reason 
for  making  sure  that  its  work  is  carried  on  in  the 
same  manner  that  would  bring  success  in  com- 
merce. 

Any  public-service  institution,  whether  oper- 
ated free  or  for  profit,  is,  or  should  be,  primarily  for 
its  clients  and  not  for  its  employees.  When  a 
change  is  contemplated  in  any  rule,  method  or  de- 
vice connected  w^ith  a  public  library  it  may  be  tested 
by  asking  the  questions,  "Will  it  benefit  the  staff? 
Will  it  improve  service  to  the  public?"  It  may,  of 
course  do  both,  but  if  it  benefits  the  staiif  at  the 
expense  of  the  service,  it  is  not  business-like. 

SOME  WAYS  OF  DOING  THINGS 

Taking  Chances.  "Be  sure  you're  right;  then 
go  ahead,''  was  Davy  Crockett's  maxim.  But  if  we 
interpret  it  to  mean,  "Never  act  except  on  a  hun- 
dred-per-cent  assurance,"  we  shall  remain  inactive. 
One  can  have  such  assurance  of  mathematical  propo- 
sitions, such  as  2  -f-  3  =  5,  but  of  practically  nothing 
else.  What  we  do  w^e  must  do,  not  on  positive  as- 
surance, but  on  great  weight  of  probability.  In 
other  words,  we  must  be  always  taking  chances. 
We  shall  be  judged  business-like  or  unbusiness-like 
by  the  kind  of  chances  we  take,  by  the  value  of  the 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  7 

thing  for  which  we  take  them,  and  by  our  estimate 
of  the  necessity  for  taking  them. 

It  may  be  good  business  to  take  a  very  big 
chance  even  for  a  slight  advantage,  where  the  pen- 
alty of  failure  is  small.  Thousands  of  experiments 
may  be  made  in  a  library  on  this  principle.  It  is 
always  justifiable  to  try  some  new  device  or  method, 
or  to  make  some  change  in  methods,  where  the  ex- 
periment is  easy  and  failure  involves  no  expense  and 
does  no  harm.  In  fact,  in  such  a  case  it  is  not  the 
experiment  that  fails.  That  always  succeeds,  since 
the  result  is  always  one  more  bit  of  library  knowl- 
edge. There  is  even  excuse  for  taking  such  a  chance 
when  the  penalty  of  failure  is  not  negligible,  pro- 
vided the  reward  of  success  is  great ;  but  if  this  is 
carried  to  extremes,  we  have  an  unjustifiable 
"gamble."  Suppose,  for  instance  that  the  alterna- 
tives are  death  and  a  fortune ;  just  what  risk  might 
be  taken  would  depend  largely  on  the  taker's  tem- 
perament, and  it  would  not  be  a  business  question 
at  all. 

In  some  instances,  however,  one  is  not  allowed 
to  decide  whether  to  take  a  risk  or  not.  He  is 
obliged  to  do  so,  and  his  exercise  of  judgment  is 
limited  to  the  choice  of  several  courses  in  each  of 
which  the  risk  is  great.  He  may  even  lack  all 
means  of  choosing  among  them  and  select  one 
wholly  at  haphazard.  He  is  like  a  man,  pursued  by 
a  bear,  who  approaches  a  fork  in  the  road.  He 
must  take  one  way  or  the  other,  and  must  take  it 
quickly,  even  without  knowing  anything  about 
either.     In  library  business,  as  in  other  kinds,  dis- 


8  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

aster  is  often  avoided  by  the  quick  recognition  of 
this  kind  of  situation  and  by  ability  to  make  an 
immediate  decision. 

Good  Will.  This  is  so  important  a  factor  in  all 
business  that  it  has  a  well  defined  money  value. 
The  "good-will"  of  a  business  may  be  worth  thou- 
sands of  dollars.  It  represents  the  combined  feel- 
ings, toward  the  concern,  of  its  customers ;  their  like- 
lihood to  continue  to  deal  with  it,  even  if  it  changes 
hands.  This  is  one  of  the  "intangibles"  that  are 
so  important  in  life,  from  statesmanship  down  to 
family  relations.  A  business  concern  may  have 
worked  for  years  to  build  it  up,  and  the  successor 
who  has  bought  it  may  lose  it  in  a  day.  Good  will 
is  two-sided:  the  "good-will"  of  the  customer  to- 
ward the  concern  is  dependent  on  the  concern's 
good  will  toward  him,  and  the  manner  of  its  ex- 
pression. 

This  all  applies  to  the  library,  for  it  is  a  busi- 
ness concern,  and  its  users  are  paying  for  what 
they  get  just  as  really  as  if  they  handed  coin  over 
the  counter.  If  their  good-will  is  forfeited,  the  li- 
brary loses,  and  in  more  cases  than  one  the  loss 
has  been  monetary.  Libraries  that  receive  large, 
ungrudged  grants  of  public  money  are  generally 
those  that  have  earned  the  good  will  of  their  re- 
spective communities. 

Directions  for  gaining  and  keeping  good  will 
can  hardly  be  given  in  detail,  but  in  all  business  it 
may  be  said  to  be  dependent  on  a  feeling  that  the 
relations  between  the  concern  and  those  who  deal 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  9 

with  it  are  something  more  than  mere  ''business." 
And  this  going  outside  of  business  is  in  itself  the 
very  best  of  "good  business,"  in  the  library  as  else- 
where, and  for  every  assistant  in  the  library  as  for 
the  institution  as  a  whole. 

In  this  sense  the  youngest  assistant  holds  the 
reputation  of  the  entire  library  in  her  hands.  In- 
difiference,  rudeness,  a  lack  of  quick  response  to 
the  public  need,  may  be  responsible— unjustly  per- 
haps, but  none  the  less  injuriously,  for  a  general 
feeling  in  the  community  that  the  library  stafif  is  not 
giving  good  service. 

Two  railroads  in  Mexico,  both  under  American 
management,  were  long  known  in  that  country  as 
the  "Ferrocanil  Shnpatica"  and  the  "Ferrocaml 
Antagonistar  It  is  better  for  a  library  to  acquire 
the  reputation  of  being  "sympathetic"  than  that  of 
being  "antagonistic." 

Etiquette.  The  things  that  go  to  create  an 
atmosphere  of  good  will  cannot  be  listed  exhaust- 
ively. But  some  of  them  have  been  formulated  as 
rules  of  etiquette.  Some  of  these  represent  a  re- 
action to  conditions  now  past;  some  are  merely 
symbolical;  yet  on  the  whole,  we  cannot  neglect 
them,  for  they  are  simply  a  way  of  taking  care  of 
common  sense  behavior  subconsciously. 

A  large  part  of  business  politeness  is  simply 
an  expression  of  the  fact  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
business  man  to  be  of  service  to  those  with  whom 
he  deals,  if  for  no  other  reason,  for  policy's  sake. 
If  he  is  not  of  service,  they  will  go  elsewhere.     This 


10  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

is  true  also  of  the  library,  where  for  "go  elsewhere" 
we  must  read  ''withdraw  public  support." 

As  an  example,  take  the  etiquette  to  be  ob- 
served when  a  stranger  enters  any  kind  of  a  service 
institution — a  department  store  or  a  library.  Some 
one  should  at  once  make  him  welcome,  ascertain  the 
kind  of  service  that  he  wants  and  see  that  it  is 
rendered.  If  it  is  simply  the  privilege  of  "looking 
around,"  it  should  be  made  clear  to  him  at  once 
that  the  privilege  is  his,  and  he  should  then  be  let 
alone.  Nothing  annoys  a  visitor  more  than  a 
would-be  helper  at  his  elbow  when  help  is  not 
desired.  But  when  it  is  needed  it  should  be  at 
hand — quick,  unobtrusive,  efficient. 

The  etiquette  of  voice  and  that  of  gesture  are 
both  important  in  a  library.  The  most  ignorant 
person  knows  whether  he  is  being  treated  with 
courtesy  or  rudeness  by  instinctive  attention  to 
these.  The  service  rendered  may,  of  course,  be 
precisely  the  same  in  the  two  instances.  It  is  as 
easy  to  hand  a  book  politely  as  it  is  to  shove  it;  it 
is  as  simple  to  answer  questions  and  explain  diffi- 
culties kindly  and  pleasantly  as  it  is  to  do  so  with 
indifference  or  disdain.  The  distinction  is  merely 
one  of  manners,  but  it  is  important  and  has  business 
value. 

In  some  other  countries  it  is  a  custom  for  one 
who  is  rendering  business  service  to  treat  his  client 
as  a  superior — to  adopt  toward  him  an  attitude  of 
excessive  civility  that  seems  to  us  like  servility. 
With  us  it  is  simply  necessary  to  act  as  an  equal  to 
an  equal.    This  implies  no  admission  of  intellectual 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  11 

or  social  equality  on  either  side.  The  contact  here 
is  one  of  public  service,  and  it  is  in  this  contact  that 
the  equality  exists.  This  consideration  is  as  neces- 
sary for  the  public  as  for  the  library  assistant,  but 
it  is  "good  business"  for  the  assistant  to  regard  it 
even  if  the  public's  manners  prove  not  to  be  up  to 
standard. 

The  etiquette  of  taking  pains  is  also  valuable. 
It  insures  that  an  assistant  shall  do  more  than  seems 
superficially  required  to  find  what  a  client  wants 
and  to  do  the  thing  that  is  wanted.  It  is  not  suffi- 
cient, for  example,  to  direct  him  to  the  reference 
book  for  which  he  asks,  when  he  really  wants  a 
specific  item  of  information  in  it  and  the  assistant 
could  aid  him  to  find  it. 

One  of  the  chief  avenues  of  approach  to  the 
library  is  now  through  the  telephone.  It  does  not 
seem  to  be  generally  realized  that  intercourse  over 
a  telephone  wire  requires  exactly  the  same  sort  of 
courtesy  as  if  the  persons  concerned  were  talking 
face  to  face.  All  telephone  etiquette  may  be  easily 
deduced  from  this.  For  instance,  a  personal  caller 
announces  himself  at  once  ;  a  telephone  caller  should 
do  likewise.  A  person  appearing  at  a  house  on  a 
business  errand  and  refusing  to  state  his  name  or 
his  business  until  he  knew  the  name  of  the  person 
with  whom  he  was  talking,  would  not  go  far.  Again  : 
one  who  asks  to  see  another  on  business  at  his  own 
instance  is  asking  a  favor.  We  habitually  put  it 
that  way  when  we  say  "beg  the  favor  of  an  inter- 
view." If  there  is  any  incidental  trouble  or  bother, 
it  must  be  assumed  by   the   person   who   asks  the 


12  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

favor — not  thrust  by  him  on  the  other.  If  he  calls 
at  a  house  and  ascertains  that  Mr.  Smith  is  at  home, 
lie  certainly  would  not  say,  "Ask  him  to  come  down- 
stairs and  wait  for  me  while  I  do  an  errand  around 
the  corner."  If  there  is  any  waiting  to  do,  he  must 
do  it  himself.  Yet  similar  treatment  is  constantly 
accorded  to  persons  who  are  called  up  on  the  tele- 
phone. 

The  telephone  is  sometimes  used  to  break  into 
another's  orderly  routine  of  business,  which  is  some- 
what like  forcing  one's  way  into  a  cue  before  a  ticket 
office  or  in  a  bank.  It  is  as  rude  in  one  case  as  in 
the  other. 

Records.  Records  are  essential  to  everv  busi- 
ness.  Where  a  man  is  in  a  business  for  himself  he 
wants  to  know  its  details,  and  where  he  is  employed 
by  someone  else  it  is  his  duty  to  keep  track  of  the 
work  and  report  its  status  and  progress,  whether  he 
personally  cares  to  do  so  or  not.  This  latter  case 
is  that  of  the  librarian.  He  is  employed  to  conduct 
an  institution,  and  whether  or  not  he  personally  con- 
siders the  keeping  of  records  a  waste  of  time  he 
must  account  for  the  property  in  his  charge  and  be 
able  to  tell  how  and  to  what  purpose  he  has  admin- 
istered it. 

The  librarian's  records  are  of  two  kinds :  Those 
describing  the  condition  of  the  property  in  his 
charge  and  those  describing  what  he  has  done  with 
it — the  quality  and  extent  of  his  work.  The  first  are 
purely  business  records  and  are  absolutely  neces- 
sary.   They  are  those  kept  by  any  business  concern, 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  13 

but  are  simpler,  because  the  library  does  not  sell 
goods.  Cash  and  securities  on  hand  are  listed,  and 
monetary  transactions,  either  in  cash  or  on  credit, 
are  recorded  as  they  occur,  in  the  manner  described 
in  any  work  on  bookkeeping.  Much  of  this  work  is 
often  taken  care  of  by  the  city  authorities,  by  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Board,  or  by  a  special  officer,  so 
that  all  the  librarian  has  to  do  is  to  keep  a  cash 
account  and  sign  vouchers.  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  a  signature  to  a  voucher  means  either 
personal  knowledge  or  confidence  in  someone  who 
has  that  knowledge.  In  a  small  library  it  is  usually 
the  former ;  in  a  large  one,  the  latter.  The  signa- 
ture of  the  person  having  first-hand  knowledge  of 
a  bill  should  always  appear  somewhere.  The  points 
to  be  certified  are  the  fact  that  the  goods  have  been 
ordered  under  proper  authority,  that  they  have  been 
received  as  ordered  and  that  the  price  is  as  agreed, 
or  is  reasonable.  In  a  large  library  these  facts  may 
have  to  be  certified  by  different  persons  and  all  be- 
come matters  of  record  with  the  filing  of  the  bills. 
No  less  important  than  purely  financial  records 
are  those  showing  the  condition  of  the  material 
property  of  which  the  Library  Board,  and  under  it 
the  librarian,  is  custodian — chiefly  buildings  and 
their  contents,  including  books.  These  must  be 
gone  over  at  intervals  and  their  existence  and  con- 
dition verified.  Blank  books  for  property  inventory 
are  to  be  bought,  and  only  changes  need  be  recorded 
after  the  first  inventory.  As  for  books,  inventorv 
methods  are  familiar  to  librarians.  These  have  been 
taught  and  practiced  in  such  detail  that  the  taking 


14  PRINCIPLES  OP  BUSINESS-LIKE 

of  book  inventories  has  become  a  bugbear,  and  some 
librarians  omit  it,  although  it  is  part  of  their  plain 
duty  as  custodians  of  public  property.  The  remedy 
seems  to  be  a  simpler  form  of  inventory,  such  as 
that  described  in  The  Library  Journal  May,  1917, 
although  the  actual  identification  of  each  book  can- 
not be  altogether  omitted  but  must  be  carried  out 
at  more  extended  intervals — say  every  five  years. 

Records  of  the  second  type — those  of  library 
work,  including  circulation,  reading-room  atten- 
dance, registration,  etc.,  are  not  so  strictly  matters 
of  business  and  might  be  omitted  without  actual 
dereliction  of  duty.  Their  necessity  is  indicated, 
however,  by  two  considerations  :  First,  the  librarian 
must  have  the  particulars  of  his  past  work  on  record 
in  order  to  test  the  success  or  failure  of  his  meth- 
ods, and  as  a  guide  in  planning  new  work.  Secondly, 
the  public,  to  which  he  is  ultimately  responsible, 
has  a  right  to  know  how  he  is  fulfilling  the  trust 
that  it  reposes  in  him. 

SOME  PERSONAL  QUALITIES 

Honesty.  To  be  honest  it  is  necessary  to  do 
more  than  simply  to  abstain  from  theft.  To  use 
for  one's  own  purposes  anything  that  rightfully  be- 
longs to  another — money,  property,  time  or  service, 
is  surely  dishonest.  Dishonesty  is  unbusiness-like, 
because  the  essence  of  business  is  agreement,  and  in 
a  dishonest  transaction  one  side  is  ignorant  of  its 
exact  nature.  If  a  library  employs  an  assistant 
with  the  proviso  that  she  shall  be  allowed  to  read 
or  studv  for  her  own  benefit  when  not  otherwise 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  15 

employed,  that  is  a  business  transaction,  but  if  work 
has  been  provided  for  such  contingencies  and  she 
reads  instead  of  doing  it,  she  is  dishonest  and  there- 
fore unbusiness-like. 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  flagrant  dishonesty 
of  direct  theft  is  unlikely  in  a  library  assistant. 
Possibly  that  is  so.  But  it  is  also  unbusiness-like 
to  give  anyone  an  opportunity  to  be  dishonest, 
whether  he  takes  advantage  of  it  or  not.  It  is  un- 
businesslike to  cash  a  check  without  requiring 
identification  or  to  make  a  loan  without  security. 
It  is  not  proper  to  complain  that  these  precautions 
imply  a  suspicion  of  dishonesty.  In  like  manner  it 
is  not  proper  for  a  librarian,  or  any  of  his  staft  to 
complain  that  he  is  treated  as  if  he  were  expected 
to  be  dishonest — required,  tor  instance,  to  submit 
vouchers  for  petty-cash  expenditures,  or  to  record 
fines  and  other  receipts  on  some  form  of  cash- 
register,  or  to  sign  a  time-sheet. 

Some  persons  with  whom  financial  dishonesty 
would  be  quite  unthinkable  have  no  scruples  about 
being  dishonest  with  time  and  will  even  falsify 
time-sheets  in  so  doing.  Others  have  no  objection 
to  using  as  private  property  such  library  supplies 
as  pens,  pencils,  paper,  or  even  postage  stamps. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult,  however,  to  decide 
whether  or  not  use  of  such  things  is  official  or 
private — whether,  for  instance,  a  question  to  be 
answered  is  addressed  to  one  as  an  individual  or 
as  a  library  assistant.  A  good  rule  is  to  require  the 
submission    of   all    correspondence    written    on    the 


16  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

library  letter-head  to  the  librarian  or  some  other 
official    superior. 

Promptness.  It  has  been  paradoxically  said 
that  much  time  is  lost  through  promptness.  This 
means,  of  course,  that  someone  is  always  late  and 
that  those  who  are  compelled  to  wait  would  have 
saved  time  by  being  equally  late.  The  only  remedy 
is  for  all  to  arrive  together,  and  the  only  practical 
way  is  to  agree  upon  an  hour  and  keep  to  it. 
Wasting  time  is  worse  than  wasting  money,  be- 
cause a  money  loss  may  be  replaced,  while  lost  time 
is  lost  permanently. 

Time  and  energy  may  be  wasted  by  unwilling- 
ness to  delegate  work.  He  who  is  business-like  in 
a  small  way  is  sometimes  unbusiness-like  when  his 
business  has  grown  large.  He  is  unable  to  adapt 
himself  to  its  growth.  Time  was  when  he  could 
attend  to  all  the  details  himself.  He  still  tries 
to  do  so  and  the  mere  physical  limitations  bring 
failure.  The  librarian  who  once  attended  to  his 
own  cataloging,  registration,  book  selection  and 
finances  and  tries  to  continue  when  his  institution 
has  grown  beyond  this  possibility,  is  not  business- 
like any  more,  although  he  may  have  been  eminently 
so  at  first.  A  business-like  management  delegates 
these  things  to  competent  lieutenants,  while  still 
retaining  ultimate  control  over  them. 

The  greatest  time-waster  is  talk.  It  is  un- 
business-like, in  the  course  of  work,  to  speak  an 
unnecessary  word.  Some  persons  think  out  loud; 
they  compel  others  to  listen  to  processes  that  should 
have  been  performed  silently.     Others  do  not  think 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  17 

at  all,  and  pour  out  a  stream  of  useless  words  while 
they  wait  for  the  thoughts  to  come.  Still  others 
speak  to  the  point,  but  repeat  themselves  over  and 
over  with  the  erroneous  idea  that  the  point  is  thus 
being  emphasized.  In  particular  it  is  unnecessary, 
in  preferring  a  request,  to  lead  up  to  it  by  a  recital 
of  reasons  or  a  narrative  of  events.  Make  the  re- 
quest directly  with  a  minimum  of  explanation.  De- 
fer argument  until  it  is  necessary.  Requests  are 
often  granted  as  soon  as  heard. 

It  is  confusing  to  listen  to  a  long  prelude  when 
one  is  uncertain  whither  it  is  tending. 

Economy  is  usually  measured  in  terms  of 
money,  but  its  subject-matter  is  rather  the  things 
that  cost  money.  When  one  has  saved  $500  in  his 
electric  bills  it  means  that  he  has  used  less  electric 
current;  when  the  saving  is  $1,000  in  wages,  it 
means  that  fewer  persons  have  been  employed,  or 
that  they  have  been  paid  at  a  lower  rate.  When 
these  things  can  be  done  without  diminution  or 
injury  to  service,  it  is  our  duty  to  do  them  at  any 
time,  but  occasionally  they  may  be  necessary  when 
they  do  involve  such  diminution  or  injury,  as  when 
income  is  lessened  and  work  must  be  cut.  The 
problem  then  becoiues  to  ascertain  where  purchases 
or  employment  may  be  lessened  with  the  least  in- 
jury to  service,  looking  at  the  matter  in  its  largest 
aspect.  The  least  injury  for  the  current  year  might 
involve  the  greatest  when  subsequent  years  are 
taken  into  account,  as  when  a  valuable  assistant 
is   dropped   or   a   progressive   piece   of   work   aban- 


18  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

doned.  The  easiest  economy  is  not  always  the  best. 
In  a  library  it  is  plainly  the  worst,  because  here 
the  easiest  way  to  save  money  is  to  buy  fewer 
books,  thus  depriving  the  library  of  that  without 
which  it  ceases  to  be  a  library.  This  is  much  like 
saving  money  by  going  without  food.  It  seems  at 
first  as  if  all  other  items  of  library  expense — up- 
keep of  building,  salaries  of  staff,  etc. — were  prac- 
tically fixed,  but  it  is  better  to  keep  on  buying 
books,  even  if  the  hours  are  made  shorter  or  the 
staff  reduced  in  size.  It  is  better  not  to  catalog  the 
books  than  not  to  buy  them. 

It  is  possible,  however,  to  reduce  expenditures 
for  books  without  much  reduction  in  real  service. 
Much  valuable  material  may  be  had  for  the  asking. 
A  reduced  book  appropriation  may  also  be  a  good 
reason  for  purchasing  valuable  material  at  second- 
hand. This  should  always  be  material  of  perma- 
nent value  ;  not  partly  used  current  literature.  This 
latter  is  valuable  only  in  proportion  to  the  life  be- 
fore it ;  to  buy  at  half-price  a  volume  that  is  three- 
quarters  worn  out  is  no  economy. 

Courage.  This  deserves  separate  treatment, 
although  it  may  be  considered  chiefly  as  an  element 
or  concomitant  of  qualities  treated  elsewhere.  For 
instance,  it  is  often  involved  in  honesty,  in  the  tak- 
ing of  chances,  in  economy  and  in  truthfulness.  For 
our  present  purposes,  it  is  a  disposition  to  go  on 
with  an  enterprise  without  regard  to  possible  dis- 
advantage or  injury  to  oneself  or  to  the  enterprise 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  19 

itself.     It  may  become   rashness,  if  not  tempered 
with — 

Caution,  which  should  properly  be  considered 
with  it,  in  the  light  of  what  has  been  said  under  the 
heading,  ''Taking  Chances.*'  Caution  is  a  disposi- 
tion not  to  endanger  the  success  of  an  enterprise  by 
proceeding  with  it  in  the  face  of  obstacles  likely  to 
bring  about  its  failure.  Courage  and  caution  are 
not  diametrical  opposites,  for  one  may  possess  both 
simultaneously,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
the  successful  man  must  have  both.  As  courage 
without  caution  is  recklessness,  so  caution  without 
courage  is  cowardice.    Either  lack  may  be  fatal. 

As  an  example  of  courage  tempered  by  caution, 
we  may  cite  a  very  frequent  occurrence — the  temp- 
tation to  write  a  belligerent  letter.  Such  a  letter, 
written  upon  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  and  dis- 
patched at  once,  is  often  a  serious  error,  and  it  is 
irreparable.  It  might  be  an  error  also  not  to  write 
at  all.  But  if  the  letter  is  written  and  laid  aside 
for  a  day,  and  then  read  critically,  it  will  seldom 
be  sent  as  it  is.  It  will  be  toned  down,  perhaps 
destroyed.  There  are  persons  who  can  be  depended 
on  to  write  in  this  calmer  fashion  without  delav. 
These  are  still  more  business-like,  and  this  advice 
is  not  for  them.  For  the  quick  tempered,  no  one 
can  doubt  that  the  procedure  outlined  above  is  tin- 
more  business-like.  The  same  may  be  done  in 
the  case  of  the  spoken  word. 

The  same  or  a  similar  method  may  be  applied 
to  contemplated  acts  that  are  likely  to  arouse  op- 


20  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

position.  A  frequent  plan  is  to  act  first  and  let 
the  opposition  develop  afterwards,  when  there  is 
no  chance  of  a  reversal  of  policy.  A  better  way  is 
to  announce  that  the  act  is  contemplated  and  allow 
the  opposition  to  develop  in  advance.  It  may  be 
that  it  will  be  strong  enough,  or  plausible  enough,  to 
induce  a  change  of  purpose.  If  not,  those  who  op- 
pose will  at  least  feel  that  they  have  had  a  chance 
to  state  their  case,  and  their  good-will  is  retained. 
This  is  not  the  method  of  a  "fighter,"  but  it  is  that 
of  a  business  man. 

Accuracy.  The  library  keeps  what  are  prac- 
tically charge  accounts  with  large  numbers  of  citi- 
zens ;  in  a  large  city  probably  as  many  as  are  kept 
by  a  large  department  store.  Most  of  these  ac- 
counts are  for  books  loaned,  but  some  may  be  for 
fines  or  other  charges,  although  these  are  usually 
cash  payments.  A  mistake  in  these  accounts  is  or 
ought  to  be  as  serious  as  one  involving  the  same 
values,  made  in  a  commercial  house.  If  an  employee 
in  a  department  store  charged  a  customer  wrongly 
with  goods  valued  at  $5.00,  or  failed  to  charge  him 
when  he  had  purchased  them,  he  Avould  risk  losing 
his  position.  The  only  difiference  between  this  situ- 
ation and  a  mistake  in  charging  a  book  worth  $5.00 
in  a  public  library  is  that  the  property  in  question 
is  public  and  not  private.  The  reason  why  mis- 
takes in  accuracy  occur  oftener  in  a  public  library 
than  in  business  houses  is  doubtless  because  neither 
librarians  nor  assistants  realize  their  seriousness  to 
the  same  degree  that  they  would  be  forced  to  realize 
it  in  trade  or  industry. 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  2\ 

Clearness.  In  every  official  communication 
there  must  be  no  doubt  whatever  about  the  mean- 
ing. A  common  source  of  confusion  is  the  return 
of  a  document  without  report.  This  may  mean  that 
there  is  no  report  to  make,  or  it  may  signify  that 
through  some  mistake  it  has  not  been  seen.  No 
query  should  be  left  unanswered  in  a  questionnaire 
unless  the  reason  for  the  omission  is  clear.  A  blank 
space,  for  instance,  left  on  the  A.  L.  A.  statistics 
table  opposite  "Number  of  music  rolls  lent  for  home 
use,"  may  mean  that  the  library  does  not  lend  music 
rolls,  or  that  the  number  has  been  omitted  by  mis- 
take. Where  checks  of  any  kind  are  used  on  lists, 
their  meaning  should  be  clearly  stated  on  the  list, 
even  where  this  is  in  accordance  with  established 
custom.  For  instance,  when  a  li^t  of  titles  is 
checked  with  the  catalog  and  checks  are  placed  op- 
posite the  lacking  titles,  the  words  ''lacks  checked" 
should  appear  on  the  list,  so  that  no  one  may  sup- 
pose that  the  checks  indicate  included  titles,  as 
might  be  the  case. 

Again,  no  communication,  book  or  article, 
should  be  sent  to  anyone  without  an  attached  state- 
ment of  its  source  and  purpose. 

Illegible  handwriting  sins  against  clearness. 
An  illegible  signature  is  unbusiness-like,  although  it 
may  be  rendered  innocuous  by  the  writer's  name 
printed  clearly  on  the  letter-head.  Regular  writing- 
is  not  necessarily  legible.  Old  fashioned  ''copper- 
plate" is  hard  to  read,  whereas  an  irregular  hand 
mal^y  be  as  clear  as  print.  "Library  hand,"  of 
course,  is  not  necessary  in  ever\-  librarv  commum"- 


23  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

cation ;  but  it  may  be  better  to  require  it  where  the 
ordinary  hand  is  not  easily  read. 

Carefulness.  One  is  naturally  careful  with  his 
own  property ;  less  so,  often,  with  that  of  others. 
As  the  property  with  the  care  of  which  one  is 
charged  increases  in  value,  more  and  more  care  is 
necessary.  One  does  not  handle  a  book  worth  a 
hundred  dollars  as  casually  as  a  fifty-cent  booklet. 
The  woodwork  of  a  shack  may  be  treated  in  a  thou- 
sand ways  inapplicable  to  that  of  an  expensive 
building.  Librarians  are  not  always  alive  to  these 
distinctions,  especially  where  the  growth  of  their 
libraries  in  size  and  income  has  involved  progress 
from  one  standard  to  another.  Because  they  pinned 
notices  to  the  woodwork  of  a  cheap  old  building 
with  thumb-tacks  they  treat  the  quartered  oak  finish 
of  the  new  one  in  the  same  way,  with  ruinous  re- 
sults. 

Carefulness  and  economy  are  very  closely  re- 
lated ;  for  much  undue  expenditure  is  simply  to 
repair  damage  done  by  lack  of  care.  Those  who  use 
the  shears  to  remove  screws,  employ  letter-heads 
for  scratch  paper,  let  the  ink  dry  up  and  stand  books 
on  their  front  edges,  must  pay  the  bills;  or  rather, 
their  libraries  must  pay  the  bills.  If  they  had  to  pay 
personally,  it  would  not  be  so  bad. 

SOME  ARRANGEMENTS 

Order.  Things  are  in  order  when  they  are  so 
placed  that  one  knows  where  to  find  them.  They 
are   in   the   best   order   when   anvone   would   know 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  23 

where  to  find  them.  Books  would  be  in  order  on 
the  shelves  if  placed  according  to  a  plan  under- 
stood by  only  one  man,  but  his  absence  or  death 
would  mean  confusion,  though  not  a  book  had  been 
displaced. 

The  appearance  of  neatness  does  not  always 
mean  order.  A  desk  with  pigeon-holed  material 
and  regular  piles  of  documents  may  be  one  in  which 
the  owner  can  find  absolutely  nothing.  "Filing"  is 
the  art  of  arranging  loose  material  so  that  it  can  be 
found  at  a  second's  notice,  and  not  by  the  filer  alone, 
but  by  any  intelligent  person.  In  a  small  institu- 
tion every  one  should  understand  about  filing;  in 
a  large  one  there  are  experts  to  care  for  it.  Some 
business  men  and  some  librarians  prefer  to  place 
all  loose  material  in  a  file,  and  to  use  a  flat-top  desk, 
empty  when  all  work  has  been  disposed  of.  Any- 
thing on  the  desk  then  means  an  unfinished  item. 
Others  do  not  care  to  call  continually  for  material 
likely  to  be  wanted  frequently,  and  prefer  a  roll- 
top  desk  with  pigeonholes  in  which  such  material 
is  kept  ready  for  use.  Such  an  arrangement  calls 
for  frequent  overhauling  to  prevent  the  accumula- 
tion of  rubbish. 

What  is  true  of  one  desk  is  true  of  a  whole 
building.  Constant  vigilance  is  necessary  to  pre- 
vent the  accumulation  of  waste  material.  The  build- 
ing should  be  regarded  as  a  great  filing-case — every- 
thing in  it  likely  to  be  needed  at  some  time,  all 
arranged  so  as  to  be  available  at  a  moment's  notice 
— nothing  kept  for  which  use  is  not  clearly  antici- 
pated.    In  particular,  nothing  should  he  packed  and 


24  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

stored  unless  plainly  labelled  and  so  disposed  that 
any  of  it  can  be  found  and  unpacked  with  the  least 
possible  trouble  in  the  smallest  possible  period  of 
time. 

Sequence.  This  is  an  important  item  in  orderly 
arrangements,  both  in  space  and  time.  It  is  some- 
times natural  and  sometimes  arbitrary.  If  you 
place  books  on  a  shelf  in  order  of  size,  that  is  a 
natural  arrangement ;  if  alphabetically  by  authors, 
it  is  arbitrary;  for  our  alphabetic  order  is  itself 
arbitrary.  Here,  as  frequently,  the  arbitrary  order 
is  the  better,  because  it  corresponds  to  more  items 
of  knowledge  than  the  other.  It  so  happens  that 
one  who  wants  a  book  generally  knows  the  author's 
name,  and  if  so,  he  knows  the  initial  of  it  and  its 
order  in  the  alphabet;  whereas  the  size  of  the  book, 
though  it  is  a  definite  mathematical  quantity,  he 
usually  does  not  know.  There  are  thus  often  ex- 
cellent reasons  for  doing  things  in  a  perfectly  arbi- 
trary sequence. 

Sequence  is  not  so  much  for  one's  own  conven- 
ience as  for  that  of  others.  You  may  know  exactly 
the  location  of  every  book  in  a  confused  pile,  but 
it  would  be  difficult  to  describe  it  to  anyone  else. 
Any  kind  of  sequence  is  usable  to  the  one  who  has 
learned  it,  but  the  ones  that  are  most  generally 
known  are  the  most  useful,  b  k  t  e  j  a  is  b.  perfectly 
good  alphabetical  sequence  to  him  who  knows  it ; 
but  ahcdef  is  better,  because  millions  know  it. 
12  3  4  5  6  is  better  still,  because  it  is  known  to  mil- 
lions more.     And  2  3  4,  or  69  1  has  its  definite  se- 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  25 

quential  meaning,  whereas  x  q  c  and  b  t  a  mean 
nothing  at  first  sight. 

Method.  Method  means  simply  a  definite  wa}- 
of  doing  things.  It  is  better  to  decide  on  such  ways 
and  adhere  to  them,  because  then  a  large  part  of 
the  work  becomes  a  matter  of  routine  and  is  done 
faster  and  with  less  effort.  If  methods  are  the  same 
everywhere  in  a  library  an  assistant  becomes  used 
to  them  once  for  all  and  no  readjustment  is  neces- 
sary. These  reasons  do  not  apply,  of  course,  where 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  adjust  methods  to  vary- 
ing conditions,  but  this  case  is  not  encountered  fre- 
quently. 

"Follow-up"  Methods.  Where  the  business 
man  cannot  see  an  immediate  result  from  somethino- 
that  he  does,  he  now  takes  nothing  for  granted,  but 
investigates.  If  what  he  did  should  have  produced 
a  result,  he  tries  to  find  out  why  it  failed,  or  he  re- 
peats it.  In  doing  this  a  distinction  must  be  made 
between  cases  where  he  has  a  right  to  expect  a  re- 
sult and  those  where  he  has  no  su(s-'i  right.  Foi 
instance,  if  he  tells  a  subordinate  to  do  a  thing,  he 
has  a  right  to  expect  that  it  will  be  done.  As  a 
rule,  no  elaborate  **follow-up"  system  to  ensure  that 
orders  shall  be  carried  out  is  necessary.  If  the}' 
are  not  obeyed,  the  offender  is  replaced  with  some- 
one who  will  do  as  he  is  told.  If  on  the  other  hand 
the  thing  done  is  the  sending  of  an  appeal  to  buy 
something,  or  a  request  for  a  fa\'or,  the  expecta- 
tion of  a  response  is  not  a  matter  of  right.  If  none 
comes  and  one  is  wanted  it  is  the  sender's  business 
to  "f(')llow-up"  the  appeal  and  see  what  the  matter 


26  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

is.  For  this  purpose  business  men  have  devised  all 
sorts  of  "follow-up''  systems.  In  the  library  com- 
paratively few  matters  need  to  be  "followed  up." 
The  sending  of  over-due  postals  is  a  *'follow-up'" 
S3'stem.  In  the  business  transactions  of  the  library, 
such  as  the  ordering  and  receipt  of  books  and 
periodicals,  close  *'follow-up"  methods  are  often 
necessary.  The  arrival  of  the  expected  item,  or  a 
definite  report  on  it,  should  be  insisted  on,  and  in 
default,  an  inquiry  should  be  sent.  The  receipt  of 
periodicals,  in  particular,  should  be  checked  and 
followed  up  very  promptly,  since  failure  to  arrive 
will  be  noted  by  every  reader  who  is  accustomed  to 
use  them.  A  good  plan  is  to  post  the  expected 
time  of  arrival  of  papers  and  magazines.  This  often 
avoids  useless  queries. 

In  a  library,  material  of  various  kinds  is  often 
referred  by  the  Librarian  to  some  member  of  the 
staf¥,  or  by  one  department  to  another.  This  be- 
longs to  the  class  of  things  that  one  should  not  be 
required  to  follow  up ;  but  there  is  often  a  time- 
limit,  and  it  is  a  good  plan  for  the  sender  to  keep  a 
memorandum  and  use  the  telephone  when  neces- 
sary. Material  that  regularly  makes  the  rounds 
should  be  accompanied  by  a  schedule  bearing  the 
names  of  those  to  whom  it  goes  in  rotation,  with  the 
expected  dates  of  arrival.  A  personal  dated  receipt, 
opposite  the  date,  makes  easy  the  fixing  of  responsi- 
bility for  a  delay. 

SOME  WORDS  IN   CONCLUSION 

Complaints.  The  business  method  of  handling 
a  complaint,  whether  from  outside  or  from  inside. 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  27 

is  to  have  it  put  in  writing  and  refer  it  at  once  to 
the  person  of  whom  complaint  is  made ;  or  where 
there  is  no  personal  object,  to  the  one  most  nearly 
concerned.  The  officer  in  authority  has  thus  both 
sides  before  him  and  can  act  intelligently.  This 
officer,  in  a  library,  may  be  the  librarian  or  the  head 
of  a  department.  DifYerent  librarians  will  naturally 
draw  in  different  places  the  line  between  matters 
that  must  be  referred  to  the  chief  authority  and 
trivial  things  that  need  not  be  so  referred.  But 
any  one  who  makes  a  complaint  to  a  subordinate 
has  the  right,  of  course,  to  appeal  to  the  chief,  and 
the  librarian  w'ill  naturally  give  such  an  appeal 
particular  attention.  Members  of  the  staff,  how- 
ever, who  constantly  appeal  and  are  constantly 
overruled  should  remember  that  this  must  tell 
against  them  in  the  long  run.  ^Members  whose  rank- 
is  equal,  or  nearly  so,  and  who  are  inclined  to  mu- 
tual complaint,  should  ponder  the  dictum :  'Tf  two 
subordinates  quarrel  persistently,  get  rid  of  both.'' 
A  chief  cannot  waste  too  much  time  in  trying  to 
find  out  where  the  fault  lies. 

There  may  be  some  difference  of  opinion  about 
complaints  that  lie  on  the  borderline  of  accusation, 
where  some  one.  that  is,  is  suspected  of  actual 
wrong-doing — theft,  possibly.  Immediate  reference 
to  the  accused  here  may  be  an  injustice,  and  one 
should  be  very  sure  of  his  ground  first.  W^here  the 
need  of  assurance,  however,  is  made  the  excuse  for 
spying  and  all  sorts  of  amateur  detective  work,  the 
situation  may  easily  become  intolerable.  Where 
actual   criminality  ma\-  come  into  consideration,   it 


S8  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

is  better,  in  most  cases,  to  consult  with  the  authori- 
ties at  once. 

Large  business  concerns  are  now  centralizing 
their  handling  of  complaints  in  a  single  department 
headed  by  a  person  selected  for  skill  in  making  ad- 
justments smoothly. 

Although  it  is  hardly  likely  that  libraries  will 
generally  be  able  to  adopt  this  method  in  its  en- 
tirety, it  is  a  good  plan  for  a  librarian  to  delegate 
the  handling  of  specially  difficult  adjustments  to 
some  member  of  the  staff,  or  some  department,  that 
has  shown  ability  in  preserving  or  developing  good- 
will. 

Relations  With  Other  Libraries.  Such  an  in- 
stitution as  a  public  library  has  no  competitors  or 
rivals,  in  a  business  sense.  Reasons  for  suspicion 
or  jealousy  among  libraries  are  conspicuously  ab- 
sent. The  temptation  to  be  unethical  exists  chiefly 
in  the  exchange  of  members  of  the  staff.  It  is  gen- 
erally considered  that  when  one  librarian  wishes 
to  offer  a  position  to  a  member  of  another's  staff. 
he  shall  previously,  or  at  any  rate  simultaneously, 
notify  the  other  librarian  that  he  is  doing  so.  This 
is,  however,  not  universally  admitted.  Some,  while 
agreeing  that  the  other  librarian,  as  a  matter  of 
courtesy,  should  be  ultimately  informed,  believe  it 
to  be  proper  to  sound  the  candidate  informally,  be- 
fore doing  so.  Some  candidate?  make  application 
for  a  position  without  notifying  their  own  chiefs. 
Without  going  too  far  into  ethics,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  best  policy  for  all  concerned  in  the  long 
run,  is  one  of  complete  frankness  on  all  sides.     Fs- 


CONDUCT  IN  LIBRARIES  29 

pecially,  action  on  an  assistant's  part,  that  raises 
suspicion  of  an  attempt  to  secure  a  salary  increase, 
independently  of  all  considerations  of  loyalty,  serv- 
ice, or  real  betterment,  will  ultimately  react  against 
that  assistant. 

Personal  applications  tor  promotion  or  appoint- 
ment are  looked  upon  differently  in  different  places. 
In  Europe  they  are  the  rule.  An  important  pro- 
fessorship in  a  university  there  may  be  given  only 
to  one  who  formally  applies  for  it.  Such  an  appli- 
cation in  the  United  States  might  seriously  preju- 
dice the  candidate's  chances  of  success.  Some  li- 
brarians like,  or  at  any  rate  do  not  mind,  receiving 
requests  for  promotion  or  appointment.  With  others 
they  are  not  felt  to  be  recommendations. 

Relations  With  the  Board.  In  business,  boards 
of  directors  were  once  confined  to  banks  and  large 
mdustrial  institutions.  Now  it  is  common  for  busi- 
ness to  be  operated  by  corporations.  A  board  ot 
directors  is  the  representative  of  the  stockholders 
who  own  the  business  and  are  supreme  in  authorit>-. 
But  although  they,  and  the  l)oard  in  their  bclialf. 
are  supreme,  they  are  not  experts  and  they  must 
employ  an  expert  to  operate  the  business.  Tt  woutd 
be  unbusiness-like  to  do  otherwise.  Tn  a  public  li- 
brary the  citizens,  collectively,  own  the  institution  : 
they  correspond  to  the  stockholders  of  a  corpora- 
tion. They,  or  their  representatives,  choose  a  board 
of  trustees  or  directors  to  act  on  their  behalf;  to 
hold  the  property  and  manage  the  institution.  The 
board  employs  an  expert,  a  librarian,  to  operate  the 
library   fr)r   it.      The   relationship   is   therefore   tlial 


30  PRINCIPLES  OF  BUSINESS-LIKE 

between  owners  and  an  expert  manager.  The  board 
knows  in  general  what  it  wants  and  whether  it  is 
getting  it.  If  not,  it  should  try  another  librarian. 
But  ordinarily  it  is  ill-advised  '**  it  interferes  in  any 
way  with  the  details  of  admiiustration.  On  the 
other  hand  the  librarian  must  remember  that  the 
board  has  an  undoubted  right  to  do  anything  that 
it  chooses.  It  is  the  librarian's  duty  to  call  the 
board's  attention  to  any  course  that  it  may  be  pur- 
suing to  the  library's  detriment,  but  if  this  is  per- 
sisted in,  there  are  only  two  alternatives — acquies- 
cence or  resignation. 


INDEX 


Page 

Accuracy     20 

Alphabetic   sequence    24 

Antagonism   versus   sympathy.     9 

Application  for  positions 28 

Board,  relations  with 29 

Bookkeeping,   library    13 

Books,  necessity  of 18 

"Business-like."  definition  of..     5 

Carefulness     22 

Caution    19 

Chances,  taking   6.  19 

Charge-accounts  in  a  library..  20 

Checking    of    lists 21 

Circulation   records    14 

Civility     10 

Clearness     21 

Complaints,  26;  adjustment  of  28 

Correspondence    15,  19 

Courage   18 

Damage,  due  to  carelessness.  .  22 

Desk,   arrangement  of 23 

Dishonesty    14 

Economy     17,  22 

Equality  in  business  contact. .  .    10 

Etiquette  of  business 0 

Experiments     7 

Expert,  librarian  as  an 30 

Filing    23 

Finance,   records  of   13;   econ- 
omy      IS 

Follow-up  systems  2.5 

Gesture,    etiquette   of 10 

Good  will    8 

Handwriting  21 

Honesty   14 

31 


Page 

Inventories    13 

Method    25 

Neatness    23 

Numerical  sequence  24 

Opposition,  anticipation  of....  20 

Order    22 

Periodicals,    following   up 26 

Personal   qualities    14 

Pigeon-holes     23 

Positions,   applications    for....   28 

Postals,  overdue   20 

Probability  as  guide  in  action .     6 

Promptness     16 

Public,    courtesy    toward,    10 ; 

good-will    of    8 

Questionnaires,  clearness  in  fill- 
ing out  21 

Rashness    19 

Receipts,    for    material 26 

Records    12 

Registration  records   14 

Reports,   clearness    in 21 

Requests,  making  of 17 

Risks,    when    to    take 7 

Rudeness     10 

Saving    17 

Sequence     24 

Storage  of  material 24 

Sympathy  versus  antagonism . .     0 
Talking,  waste  of  time  by....   16 

Telephone,   etiquette   of 11 

Theft   ir»,  27 

Time,   dishonesty   with,    l.'i; 

waste  of    16 

Voice,    etiquette    of 10 

Waste,    accumulation    of 2.3 


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